Jay Blades

The only thing I didn’t understand was that when he went to university he was said to have a reading age of 11. I was very surprised because he didn’t seem able to read at all.

There seems to be a bit of a blurred line between dyslexia and not learning to read at school - for whatever reason. I don't think it is the same thing necessarily.

My DH has dyslexia and has used many coping strategies over the years, including having a secretary, 'losing' his glasses etc. He has also developed a fantastic memory as he struggles to write things down.

He can read but gets very little pleasure from it and struggles with some words. His main problem is writing as he cannot 'see' words.

I do think that Jay Blades was very brave to admit to being unable to read.

I love to read and could not imagine my life without books

PinkCosmos do get your DH to look at computer spelling programmes that recognise words from context and not the letters you have put in. My DS found that transformed his ability to write as some of his letter suggestions were not recognisable. Computers can also read back what you have written which helps and cuts down the strain of writing.

M0nica

*Grandma70s*. How he got his degree was explained, his dyslexia was diagnosed early in his course and he got all the technological and personal help he needed. Including someone reading texts and in other cases audio readers that read text aloud. He 'read' for his degree alright, but not in a way, we would normally recognise.

His Uni Tutor also explained that he didn't look at the subjects studied like other students, but from a different, but in many ways more complex, deeper, way- that made his essays and responses not only very interesting, but in many ways at a higher level.

He is a remarkable man. I am glad he made the programme as I am sure this will help a lot of people come forward with the same problems. My youngest son got to University before it was discovered he was dyslexic! How i missed it I do not know and I blame myself so much.

I enjoyed the programme as both DH and DD2 are dyslexic. DH was branded "lazy" at school but found coping mechanisms and went on to have a successful career. DD was diagnosed at school at about age 6 and had help from then on.
Neither are happy to embrace the new technology but I love the speak to type software.
Jay Blades has led an interesting life. I read that his philandering father had about 25 kids! Jay himself has 3 all with different mothers.

trisher

I haven't watched it. I might, but I do have problems with programmes about dyslexia that imagine you can teach a dyslexic to read and the whole problem goes away. It reinforces the beliefs so prevalent in schools and general society that reading is some sort of measure of intelligence and is essential. My severley dyslexic DS can read but says it isn't a pleasure and it is difficult especially whan he is tired. He has a whole range of technological aids that help him out and have enabled him to have the career he wanted which actually involves writing. We need to equip dyslexics with all the aids available and realise that the appreciation and the use of language is not dependent on the process of reading.

Excellent post, trisher.
In my career I have worked with so many pupils with dyslexia. Breaking down those barriers to learning, became a passion. In the early days, many were undiagnosed and regarded as having low intelligence. Thank goodness, we have moved on from that discrimination.

I worked with two brothers who were severely dyslexic and can recall one parents' evening when their father broke down in tears, explaining that he too was severely dyslexic and had spent his whole career feeling ashamed of his disability and covering up.
He was so grateful for all the technology, which we had put in place for his boys to help his sons. It had given him the courage to speak to his employers and ask for support.

I watched him on another program where he was helping a young (20s) trainee carpenter who was also dyslexic but didn't know Jay Blades was. Jay told him to let people know he had a problem so they could help him instead of a life of pretending everything was okay. The young man was concerned people wouldn't give him a chance. But he went back to work, told his workmate he had a problem with numbers and needed help and she showed him how to do his calculations. He was number dyslexic, whereas Jay is word dyslexic - he admitted to never reading texts and emails because he couldn't manage to focus on more than a couple of lines.

trisher Thank you so much for posting on here and explaining about dyslexia. So many, including sadly many teachers simply have no idea how hard it is for those affected.

My brother was called word blind by a very forward thinking teacher back in the 1960s. All the others just said he was thick/lazy. I also struggled to learn to read and still really struggle with spelling. Everything takes soooo long.

Things weren't much better for my own four sons. Teacher speak......Don't worry they are summer birthdays, they are boys, they are lazy, they weren't read too as babies, there are no books at home, just look/write /spell 20 times and they will get them right. They just keep repeating this until the school year ends and then it's another teacher's problem. Then at the end of year six it's another school's problem!

Well my boys were read to as babies and had more books than the local library children's section. Their school years were hell really. But we got their with lots of private tuition with teachers who understood dyslexia and many, many hours of work at home. Once they were post 16 things got much better.

Thanks again trisher.

I do know the correct there, their, they're. If I was still at school I would rewrite the whole page.

Well done Jay. It takes courage to admit to being dyslexic. Many children miss out on specialist support for dyslexia and dyslexia and go on to struggle throughout life. Being able to read opens so many doors and windows. If you cannot it is not surprising that so many enter the world of crime as a result.
Our eldest son was diagnosed aged 7 with both disabilities, and has on to get a Masters degree and roles involving strategic thinking and problem solving.

trisher

*I am very cynical about the claims of a university qualification. No university I have been connected with would award degrees to people who can’t read. There is a lot of reading to do that isn’t a ‘set text’. I know technology is a great help, but still*

Would you say the same about someone who is blind? Dyslexia is a disability. People with disabilities get degrees. In order to do so they need a whole range of support, in the case of a blind student texts in braille, in the case of a dyslexic student a range of audio-visual information, computers, and programs for reading and writing text.
My DS has BA and an MA.

I agree.

My 23yo has learning disabilities. He has very limited reading ability (although better than he lets on!!) and has poor fine motor skills so can't write. He's been using assistive technology since he was at school.

I used to work with someone that, quite honestly , we took the mickey out of because his writing was so bad .
Very intelligent guy who could explain technical things in such a nice, simple but not patronising way that you could understand.
He also used to teach other staff in his own field.
We had a new owner for the company who preferred all of his staff to have letters after their names or degrees even if they weren't relevant to their jobs!
He pushed this guy to retake the exams that he had failed and it was only then that in his forties he got classed as dyslexic. He retook the exams again with someone to do the typing for him and only failed by two marks, due to the typist making a mistake!
Sadly he was moved to another branch and when his appeal failed , decided to leave the company. Great loss to the company.
There are probably hundreds, if not thousands in a similar situation and hopefully Jay will help those to stand up and get some help at long last.

I have met quite a few people who cannot read and I am amazed at how they got through life, and I admire them because they use other skills to compensate. I blame the teachers for letting them slip through the net, and creating this situation. They just label the pupil lazy which then stigmatises them for life.

I had a boss who owned a Nursing Home. He used to complain some staff didn't bother to read his notices. He didn't know that at least 3 of the carers he employed didn't have reading and writing skills. He was horrified when he was told this..

I’m with AuntieFlo
I think Jay Blade is an extraordinary self publicist! He has no talent as such, but cleverly joins those who create the furniture or mends the mementos. My New Year Resolution of “be kind” has, I’m afraid, taken a back seat when I wonder if Jay’s newly found ability to read is just more of the act to keep his profile in the light? If it’s not, Well Done Jay… what’s next to keep you going? What an agent you must have!

How did he pass his driving test where you have to read a number plate?
That aside, good for him to 'come out' about it.

I haven't seen the programme yet but respect to him for airing his difficulties publicly, and hopefully this will enable others to feel more confident in seeking help for similar problems.
My son struggled with reading and writing at primary school, was labelled as lazy and difficult and one teacher said "he stressed her out". In fact, he became terrified to go to school when she was his teacher. We bent over backwards to sit with him and help him with reading and writing but to all extents and purposes he went into secondary school unable to read and write. The secondary school were entirely different with him, we had a meeting with his year tutor when he started secondary school and expressed how worried we were about our son, and immediately the school put measures into place to assess and help him, and I am very proud to say he eventually went on to attain 2 Degrees and is highly regarded by his employer.
Interestingly, my husband had some difficulties with paperwork at work in later years, said he had always struggled with such, and always asks me to fill in forms for him, was assessed by a dyslexic expert (who advises Judges apparently) and was himself assessed as dyslexic and we were told the condition can be hereditary and passed down through the male line. Not sure how that happens with female dyslexia?

Loved the programme, what Jay has achieved is remarkable, he comes across as such a lovely person, but a dreadful indictment of our education system that he and so many others “slipped” thru net with regards their schooling and were labelled as lazy, disruptive or just plain stupid.

Well done Jay, you will soon be able to read to your 15 year old daughter!

Admired him very much for allowing the programme to be made and no doubt it has encouraged others to seek help. In my last job, I used to be an adult literacy tutor and was constantly saddened by the large number of students we had - from older teens to a lady in her 60's. The students we had didn't have dyslexia, they had just missed a lot of schooling in their early life - either through their own ill health or a parents', or had fallen into a gang of truants (and once they'd missed the basics, it was very difficult to catch up). They became less likely to go to school and/or become disruptive, partly to try to cover up the fact that they couldn't read. In adulthood they were confined to low paid, basic jobs or stayed unemployed, and some of them were very bright. In all my years doing the job, all my students came from low income families and very few from homes where there was even a single book.

I was amazed at the statistic that 50% of the prison population struggle with reading and writing (so legitimate job opportunities are limited and low paid). Made me wonder how fewer prisons we would need if the issue of illiteracy was addressed seriously in schools?

Germanshepherdsmum

The only thing I didn’t understand was that when he went to university he was said to have a reading age of 11. I was very surprised because he didn’t seem able to read at all.

reading age is about comprehension of the written word and vocabulary size as well as actually reading. If you can get the sense of a paragraph but can't read every word aloud, then you might well have a slightly higher reading age than it appears.

CarlyD7

I was amazed at the statistic that 50% of the prison population struggle with reading and writing (so legitimate job opportunities are limited and low paid). Made me wonder how fewer prisons we would need if the issue of illiteracy was addressed seriously in schools?

I think it goes deeper than that.....in order for children to learn to read they need to attend school regularly and be supported at home....bedtime stories, reading matter in the house, parental attitudes and so on.
I too volunteered in adult lit in a hospital for people with mental illness. Mostly they were young adults who had missed a lot of school due to behaviour issues and also had very limited concentration span. This was back in the 80's. I think that medication has come a long wat since then and such people are much better served.

DH has aphasia caused by stroke. He lost all his literacy skills as a result. Text to speech and speech to text technology is great. But no help when a check out operator snarled “Can’t you read?” when he missed the Closing sign at her checkout.
Well done to Jay Blades. Whatever his motivation, it may well encourage others to come forward.